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The Daleks (TV story)
The Daleks 'is the second serial of the first season of ''Doctor Who. ''It was written by Terry Nation, directed by Christopher Barry and Richard Martin and featured William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian Chesterton, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman. Overview ''To be added Synopsis The TARDIS lands in an alien, petrified jungle, beyond which lies a mysterious deserted city. The Doctor insists on exploring, but before long the TARDIS crew all begin experiencing the early effects of radiation sickness. And then they discover that the metal city isn't as deserted as they first thought... Plot The Dead Planet (1) Deciding to explore a new planet, the Doctor has his granddaughter, Susan, check the radiation meter on the TARDIS console, which reads normal. However, as soon as they, along with Ian and Barbara move away, the meter changes, signalling danger... On examination outside, the travellers pick up on the highly burned appearance of the jungle and the fact that the wind doesn't seem to move the branches on any of the trees. Ian pulls a twig of a tree, and it appears to crumble like stone. The Doctor notes it's petrified and he and Susan go to investigate. Barbara and Ian discuss the Doctor's apparent inability to return them home and decide to follow the Doctor to keep an eye on him. Further in the jungle, Susan finds a perfectly petrified flower. She and Ian agree to take it back to the TARDIS with them, but Ian crushes it in Susan's hand upon hearing Barbara cry out. They find a reptilian-looking creature made completely of metal. The Doctor determines from it that they are not on Earth, but the creature was always made of metal, even during life. Barbara is upset by the fact that they aren't home. While Barbara asks Susan about the TARDIS' ability to record it's journeys, Ian cries out, having found the edge of the jungle. They stand on a cliff face overlooking a distant and vast metal city. The Doctor uses binoculars to see any signs of life but is unable to find any. He expresses a desire to go down and investigate the city, but Barbara isn't keen to proceed. They head back to the TARDIS under falling light and opt to decide there. On the way back, Susan stops to pick up an identical flower to the one she found before, when she starts to hear noises around her. Ian goes back when he hears her scream and finds her panicked. In the TARDIS, Susan tells the Doctor that she believes someone touched her in the forest, but the Doctor is not convinced; he asks Barbara to broach the subject on his behalf. Barbara believes her story, but Susan is adamant to convince the Doctor that something did happen. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Ian work over the TARDIS' systems with Ian poses various questions about what life will be like now that they are unwilling companions and the Doctor goes over to the food machine, from which he pulls out a small bars of food with the taste of what they ordered. Susan goes to take Barbara and Ian to a resting place when a tapping noise is heard from outside the ship. Checking the scanner, the source is gone again. Barbara wishes to leave immediately, but the Doctor still wishes to see the city. Eventually, with Ian's protests and Susan's pleas, he moves over to the console and begins working the take-off controls. However, when the other's aren't looking, he removes a component from the base of the TARDIS and replaces it incorrectly. Doing this, the engines stall and the Doctor pretends that the component, the fluid link, has been drained of mercury and that they must go to the city to find more. They leave to head to the city on first light, and find a strange metal container outside of the TARDIS. Confirming it's not dangerous, they find a number of glass phials inside. The Doctor has Susan take them back inside the TARDIS for later examination, before the travellers head for the city. Not long later, they arrive at a large entrance, with the travellers starting to feel a little strange. Barbara presses a panel and a door opens; they decide to go separate ways to explore further. Inside the city's bizarrely shaped corridors, Barbara is watched by cameras throughout the hallways. She proceeds through the corridors until she is lost and then trapped. The Doctor and Susan reunite with Ian but Barbara is still absent, while Barbara is still trapped inside. As she makes her way along the metal interior, she is seals behind doors on all sides. She enters a single open chamber where she is cornered by an unseen creature, wielding a long plunger arm. It pins her against the wall and she screams... The Survivors (2) Ian activates another door into an open room, but Barbara is nowhere to be found. The Doctor is alerted by a faint ticking noise in another room. Going to investigate, they find the source of the ticking noise to be a geiger counter, registering in the danger zone, meaning that all the while they've been wandering around in the city, they've been exposed to radiation. The Doctor deduces the source to be a neutron bomb having exploded prior. With the knowledge that they will die without treatment, the Doctor is forced to reveal is subterfuge and that the fluid link is not damaged. Angered that the Doctor's callous attitude has put them all at risk, Ian takes the fluid link to ensure that he cooperate in finding Barbara and getting them all out alive. Upon stepping out of the room, the three are cornered by large robot-looking machines, who order them to move ahead of them. Ian tries to make an escape, but they fire at him and cause temporary paralysis in his legs. One of the machines order the Doctor and Susan to assist him. The travellers are taken to a cell where they find Barbara still alive. Barbara notes that on escorting her, they only ever moved in lifts and deduces that the metal machines may have living creatures inside. Ian informs Barbara of the radiation sickness and the Doctor states that if they remain untreated, they will die. While monitoring them, the machines order the Doctor brought to them, before discussing the statistics of radiation affecting another hidden race, that they identify as the Thals. They assume they survive due to a drug. The Doctor is brought before them, where they take him for a Thal. They accuse him of lying and coming to the city to find more anti-radiation drugs. The Doctor reasons that the phials left outside the TARDIS were anti-radiation drugs and asks the machines if either he or one of his companions could be sent to bring them back. The creatures, identifying themselves as the Daleks, agree to allow it and tell him of their history of being one of two races on their planet. The Daleks retreated into the city after a neutronic war, 500 years prior, but they are aware that there are survivors and assume they are disgustingly mutated, but they are still willing to send someone to retrieve the drugs. Barbara and Susan help Ian in regaining the feeling in his legs when the Doctor returns and informs them of the situation. While the travellers argue about who should go and collect them, the Doctor falls into unconsciousness from the sickness. While Ian tries to walk, the Daleks arrive and insist on taking their selected retriever. Ian, still unable to walk, tries to convince them to wait, but they continue to persist. When Barbara can't move herself either, Ian turns to Susan and tells her that none of them are capable of doing and so she must go herself. In spite of her fear, she agrees to go and promises to return without interruption. The Daleks then escort Susan out of the cell while Ian continues to try and bring the feeling back into his legs. After Susan sets off, the Daleks monitor her on from their control centre. The agree that if Susan returns with the drugs, they will not be given to the prisoners and instead utilised by them. In the cells, the Doctor grows weaker and Barbara and Ian try and keep themselves conscious with the sickness, the Daleks watch them on the monitors as well. On the outskirts of the jungle, Susan makes her way through loud thunder and winds to make it back to the TARDIS, with a figure following her unseen. Finally making it through the forest and back to the ship, Susan hurries inside and finds the container of drugs they had found; remembering Ian's words from earlier, Susan reluctantly leaves the ship and back into the jungle for the return journey. The Escape (3) Stepping outside again, Susan is startled by a man wearing a strange cloak watching her. Kneeling down in fear, he slowly approaches and Susan realises he's one of the Thals that the Daleks spoke of. He tells her that it was he who had tried to speak to Susan in the forest yesterday but had frightened her and who had left the drugs for them. Susan tells him about her friends being prisoners of the Daleks and he gives her a second supply to take and wins her trust. He identifies himself as Alydon and agrees to escort her back through the forest, giving her his cloak for warmth. Inside the city, the Daleks return Susan to the cell and confer that Susan's interaction with the Thals could bring them to the city. In the cell, Susan gives the drugs to the Doctor, Ian and Barbara and their condition starts to improve. While talking about Alydon, Susan states she was surprised that the Daleks allowed her to keep the second drug stash for the others when they found it, when they seemed to inexplicably change their mind and return it to her. The Doctor then suddenly regains consciousness and Susan decides that they need to talk to the Daleks to help the Thals recover from starvation; while she discusses the situation, the Daleks watch their conversation on the camera in their cell and decide to lull the travellers into a false sense of security and brings the Thals inside the city. The travellers are awakened by a Dalek bringing them food and brings Susan with them, claiming that they are going to help the Thals, like they wanted, but Ian is dubious as to their true intentions. Outside the city, the Thals gather around the TARDIS when the leader Temmosus questions Alydon about Susan's claims of the city and the Daleks. Asking him of the arrangement, he tells Temmosus that the Daleks' terms will be written down and sent to them with Susan's signature for confirmation. Inside the city, Susan writes the message for the Daleks while they watch the others on the cell's camera. Inside the cell, the Doctor and Ian stage a fight which turns physical so Susan can disable the camera. While the Daleks figure out what to do with them, the travellers convene a plan of escape when they discern that the Daleks are only capable of movement along the metal floors by means of drawing static electricity; Ian devises a plan to disable a Dalek using the cloak Alydon gave Susan. In the Thals' camp, Alydon starts to express concerns about the Daleks' motives to Temmosus, while another member brings Susan's message to them, ensuring a quantity of food from them to collect. Still in the cell, when a Dalek brings food in for the travellers, they find the Daleks have complete pivotal sight, making it impossible to hide from them. Barbara then decides to make mud from the dirt on Susan's shoes and a bowl of water as part of their escape plan. When another Dalek arrives later on, they get into position; when the door opens, Ian places a part of the camera under it as an obstruction to distract the Dalek. When it comes back in, Barbara thrusts the mud onto it's eyestalk, blinding it and the four of them force it onto the cloak, disabling it. Finding a catch, Ian has the girls keep a look out, while he and the Doctor use the cloak to extract the unseen creature inside. Ian installs himself in the Dalek's casing, and after the mud is removed from the eyestalk, the Doctor pushes him along the ground while Barbara and Susan walk ahead. In the cell, the mutant creature from inside the casing starts to emerge from the cloak... The Ambush (4) Ian gets the hand of working the machine himself and the Doctor has him convene with the Dalek sentry waiting at the end of the hallway. When the sentry begins radioing for orders, Susan causes a distraction and the sentry puts them in the lift. Once they are inside, the clasp on Ian's casing sticks, trapping him inside. When the sentry radios in, the ruse is uncovered and the Daleks halt the lift and attempt to cut their way inside. They magnetise the floor, thus rendering Ian immobile in the casing; the Doctor, Susan and Barbara make their way to the top floor and send the lift back down for him. The Daleks finally break in and destroy the casing, finding it empty. They then see the lift reascending and order it back down; Ian just makes it to the top floor when the lift starts to drop again. Looking out from the top of the building, Barbara spots moving figures approaching the city and Susan realises it's the Thals coming for food and that they're walking into an ambush. As the Daleks ascend to the top floor after the others, the travellers try to warn to Thals from the building but to no avail. Barbara sees the lift returning and Ian fails to stop it remotely, so he has Susan and Barbara help him in throwing a statue down the shaft to stop them, while they make their escape. Outside, Alydon, Temmosus and the Thals arrive outside the city and Temmosus tries to convince Alydon to stop being paranoid about the Daleks' intentions; when Temmosus enters the front of the main building, three Daleks lie in wait there. Racing back to the city entrance, Ian offers to stay in the city to warn the Thals of the trap while the Doctor, Susan and Barbara make for the TARDIS. Ian rushes to the main entrance just as Temmosus arrive to greet to Daleks, but fails to prevent the Daleks hiding there from killing him, so he and the other Thals present flee. Ian runs into Alydon and he and the other Thals run from the city. In the Thals camp, Dyoni shows the Doctor the records of their planet, Skaro, impressing him. The Thals return with other survivors and greet the travellers. While Barbara and Susan help treat the wounded, Alydon is made to serve Temmosus' position as leader, while Ian tells them that the Daleks ambushed them because they fear anything different from them in suggests that the Thals show the Daleks a form of strength to make their position against them, a suggestion Dyoni thinks ridiculous. While the Thal people honour one of their dead, the Doctor insists on leaving in the TARDIS, to which the others agree. However, upon request, Ian realises that the Daleks took the fluid link from him when they searched him, that it's still down in the city... The Expedition (5) In the Dalek control centre, the Daleks duplicate and distribute the anti-radition drug among their own. Seeing images taken of the travellers outside the city, the assume that the Thals will try and attack them. However, in the camp, Alydon refuses to assist Ian in a suicide mission to retrieve the fluid link from the city. Emerging from the TARDIS, the Doctor has been unable to make another fluid link and agrees that they must retrieve the original from the Daleks. The Doctor and Barbara are certain that the Thals must fight for their own survival, so Ian concludes that the only way they can convince them to fight is if they do it of their own free will. Ian takes the Thals history and tells Alydon that anyone could arrive and take and steal from them, but the Thals still have no interest in fighting. Ian tempts to goad Alydon further by threatening to take their history records to the Daleks in exchange for the fluid link, and when that doesn't work, he threatens to bring Dyoni to them instead. This spurs Alydon into punching Ian in the face, validating Ian's theory that the Thals will fight for something. In the city, the Daleks monitor the subjects given the drug as they spiral into lapses of delirium and, concluding that the drug is causing the condition, cease the distribution of it and have the test subjects examined when the condition spreads further. Acknowledging that radition is necessary for their survival, the Daleks decide to explode another neutron bomb. In the Thal camp, while the other sleep, Dyoni approaches Alydon about Ian's provocation and he is incredibly confused as to what to do about it. Barbara talks with another Thal, Ganatus about the other dangers living in the jungle, various mutations living in the swamps. The Daleks discover many of the test subjects have died and divert the polluted air away. Knowing that without radition, they are unable to rebuilt the world outside the city, they decide to alter the environment to benefit them. In the camp, Alydon gathers the Thal people and the Doctor's party and confer a course of action. Refusing to let them go alone, Alydon offers to assist them himself, when other members of the camp follow suit. They consult a map and devise a route across the swamp and across to mountaints to attack the Daleks from behind and the Doctor volunteers to lead a break-away team to distract the Daleks from the front. Keeping an eye on the Thal's movements, the Daleks are confused as to their choice of action. They receive the data on their test subjects, confirming that the drug is poisonous to them and they order radioactive material to be collected. Ganatus and his brother Antodus lead Ian and Barbara to the swamp. Following the Thals across the swamp, Barbara is almost attacked by a mutant before Ian hits it away. Finding a place to break camp, the party is alerted by a loud roaring noise from the waters and Ian flees before his is attacked by the creature. The following morning, Ian, Ganatus and Elyon find a pipeline coming from the lake that the Daleks use to bring water into the city. While refilling water bags and mutation causes a whirlpool and he screams, alerting to others who go to help. The Ordeal (6) Rushing to the edge of the swamp, they find Elyon gone with all the waterbags floating in the swamp. They decide to continue on their mission. Outside the city, the Doctor's party marks out high-security areas around the city entrance and attempt to figure out how to put them out of action. Meanwhile, the Daleks continue to plan their neutron bomb plan, but the length of time for it's construction is unviable and thus means they must find an alternate way of spreading radiation. At the cliffs, Barbara and Ganatus work their way along looking for a way to cross into the city, finding a small passageway for them to go through. Tying himself to one end of a rope, Ganatus crawls the passageway while Barbara ties to other end to a rock as he climbs down a drop. Trying to slowly drop him down, Barbara trips and knocks the rope off the rock, causing Ganatus to fall to the bottom of the pit. Ian and the others arrive and Ganatus calls them down to the bottom, where there are various tunnels branching outward. The Daleks realise they have lost track of the Thals and increase their security measures, while outside, the Thals continue to impede them. Making it inside, the Doctor, Susan and Alydon make their way to the entrance of the city. In the caves, Ian's party work their way toward the Dalek city, while Antodus tells Ganatus that he wishes to go back. When Ganatus refuses, the two get into a struggle, causing a rock to fall and block their route back, forcing them to go on. In the Dalek control centre, the Daleks recalibrate their means of tracking them so as to take them by surprise. Outside, the Doctor, Susan and Alydon find the source of the Daleks antennae and the Doctor opts to use the TARDIS key to disable it. While the Doctor marvels in his ingenuity, the Daleks surround him and Susan. Ian, Barbara and the Thals find a large chasm cutting them off but no way to get around it. When no alternatives appear, Ian decides they have to jump the gap. Taking a running jump, Ian makes it across, followed by Ganatus. Examining the cliff face, Ganatus works his way around and has Ian send the rope back for the others. The Doctor and Susan are brought to the Dalek control room and are interrogated. In the cave, Barbara successfully jumps the gap and works her way around with Ian's help. With only Antodus remaining, he reluctantly jumps the gap, but falters and falls, pulling Ian over at the same time. While Antodus hangs above the black bottom of the pit, Ian struggles to hold onto the rock, barely grabbing on. The Rescue (7) With Ian's grip on the rock slowly weakening, Ganatus comes back around and grabs him before his falls. Unable to hold them both, Antodus takes a knife to the rope, cutting himself loose and he falls to his death, allowing Ganatus to pull Ian back to safety, mourning his sacrifice. In the control room, the Daleks restrain the Doctor and Susan while they criticise and denounce their plan. With the way out of the caverns blocked off, the Thals consider giving up and going back, while Ian and Barbara find the a light in the darkened tunnel and the way into the back of the city. With the Daleks' security compromised, Alydon convinces the Thals to mount and assault on the city walls to rescue the Doctor and Susan. In the control room, the Doctor makes a last plea to the Daleks to show them the TARDIS and tell them of it's secrets to stop them from going through with their plan, but it fails. Luckily, the Daleks detect the Ian's party moving inside the city and go to intercept them. Wandering around the corridors, Ian, Barbara and the remaining Thals stay hidden from incoming Daleks, while the Daleks aren't capable of tracking them; the Daleks prepare to launch their capsule of radiation. Ian and the others stumble through the hallways meet up with Alydon and the others who agree to find and storm the control room and rescue the Doctor and Susan. They are finally detected by the Daleks and narrowly avoid being trapped by their bulkheads, with Barbara getting stuck beneath one of the doors. In the control room, the Daleks count down to the launch of their capsule while the Doctor and Susan watch them. Finding an open door into the control centre, Ian, Barbara and the Thals sneak inside, free Susan and the Doctor and ambush the Daleks. While the Thals disable the Daleks, the capsule is damaged. The last Dalek pleads with the Doctor to spare them, but he refuses and the Dalek dies, ending the conflict. The Thals take their dead and injured away, leaving the dead Daleks in place. Bringing all the food back to their camp, the Thal people examine the Daleks' technology. While tempted by the offer to stay and advise, the Doctor insists he must depart and he and his companions say their goodbyes to the Thals before leaving in the TARDIS. Inside the ship, the Doctor is at the controls, Susan is eating, Ian and Barbara are conversing, when a sudden explosion from the console throws them all aside and plunges the ship into darkness... Cast * Dr. Who - William Hartnell * Ian Chesterton - William Russell * Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill * Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford * Dalek voices - Peter Hawkins, David Graham * Daleks - Robert Jewell, Kevin Manser, Michael Summerton, Gerald Taylor, Peter Murphy * Temmosus - Alan Wheatley * Alydon - John Lee * Dyoni - Virginia Wetherell * Ganatus - Philip Bond * Antodus - Marcus Hammond * Kristas - Jonathan Crane * Elyon - Gerald Curtis * Thals - Chris Browning, Katie Cashfield, Vez Delahunt, Kevin Glenny, Ruth Harrison, Lesley Hill, Steve Pokol, Jeanette Rossini, Eric Smith Crew * Writer - Terry Nation * Title music - Ron Grainer with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop * Incidental music - Tristram Cary * Story editor - David Whitaker * Designers - Raymond Cusick, Jeremy Davies * Associate producer - Mervyn Pinfield * Producer - Verity Lambert * Directors - Christopher Barry (parts 1,2,4,5), Richard Martin (parts 3,6,7) * Costume supervisor - Daphne Dare * Make-up supervisor - Elizabeth Blattner References To be added Story notes To be added Broadcast & Ratings Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''The Daleks'' page on '''Doctor Who Website Category:First Doctor Television Stories Category:Season 1 stories Category:Seven(+)-part serials Category:Stories set on Skaro Category:Dalek television stories Category:1963 television stories Category:1964 television stories